District Champions: Oak Ridge beats Powell for 2nd title in 3 years

Eleven days ago Powell cut the nets on a regular season District 3-AAA title.

Robert Holder

Eleven days ago Powell cut the nets on a regular season District 3-AAA title.

Oak Ridge raised a District 3-AAA plaque Tuesday night.

The Wildcats defeated the Panthers 62-55 exacting revenge for two regular season losses and earning the top seed for the Region 2-AAA tournament at Campbell County High School.

“For us to lose twice to Powell, I thought we earned a championship tonight and deserved it,” coach Aaron Green said. “These guys worked hard, and I’m really proud of them.”

Less than two weeks ago, Powell (23-3) held Oak Ridge (24-5) to just 30 points cutting off the Wildcats driving offense and forcing them to take shots from the perimeter.

But the third matchup between the two teams went the Wildcats way.

Cory Fagan lifted the lid on the Panther’s defense by hitting three of his four 3-pointers in the first half giving MVP Jaylin Henderson and Rian Hall room to slash to the basket.

“We wanted to attack and be more aggressive this game,” Green said. “We finished the game tonight. The game at their place we had chances to win and didn’t finish. We finished tonight.”

However, Powell didn’t go easy. The Panthers lit it up from beyond the arc as well, hitting eight treys in all and clung to a one point lead, 27-26, despite Oak Ridge scoring the last five points of the second quarter.

But Oak Ridge came out red hot creating turnovers and going on a 13-0 run in the first 3:25 of the second half.

Four Wildcats scored baskets during the run that saw Powell turn the ball over three times.

“The adrenaline was flowing,” Henderson said. “We had steals and turnovers and that lead to layups on the other end.”

Green said the run was the difference in the game.

“We talked about at halftime getting stops in the third quarter. Not only did we get stops, they led to transition,” he said.

The Panthers again pulled back within five with a 10-2 run of their own but a steal and outlet pass from Henderson to Isaac Merian for a dunk squashed any momentum Powell had.

“That play was a game-changing moment,” Henderson said.

Powell completed a four-point play when Clay Payne hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key and converted on a free-throw attempt to pull within three, 53-56, with 3:53. The Panthers were able to draw a pair of fouls but could not do anything as Oak Ridge came down with rebounds and defensive stops.

Powell had a final shot at closing within one score under a minute. But Kevin Steen put a hand on the ball and pushed it to Fagan. Merian and Fagan made four free throws to ice the game away and secure the No. 1-seed in the Region.

“Coach was just preaching playing harder than them,” Fagan said. “It’s great to possibly have every game at home until State. We’ve just got to take it one by one.”

Added Green, “Fagan rebounded as well as he has all year. The aggressiveness of our offense helped us as well (defensively) because we weren’t on our heels.”

Henderson led all scorers with 19 points. Fagan had 18 and Merian had 14. Hall had seven.

Payne led Powell with 12 points. Alex Hill had 10. Jack Rase had eight and Lex Waters chipped in seven.

Oak Ridge will host every game up until the TSSAA Class AAA Tournament in Murfreesboro if they continue to win throughout the Region 2-AAA tournament. The first game is Saturday at Wildcat Arena against Lenoir City.

The Lenoir City Panthers lost to Farragut in the District 3-AAA consolation game. Farragut will travel to Powell.

The other two Region games will see Halls travel to Bearden and Clinton at Maryville. All Region games are at 7 p.m.

The top two teams from the Region advance to the Sectional, or Sub-State, with the runner-up traveling to the Region 1-AAA winner.